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Silly humour doesn’t mean gags without intelligence, a point ably demonstrated by Geordie stand-up Seymour Mace. At last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe he looked at superheroes; this year he’s tackling God in Testamental: Bible Stories Told By An Idiot, which previews at Live Theatre on Saturday, Jul 18.

What’s Testamental about?

It’s about the Bible. I’ve always been interested in religion, but I’ve never read the Bible, so I thought I’d give it a go. It’s got some mad stuff in it, and I couldn’t believe how anyone could go along with it.

Did it teach you anything?

I had an image of God being this Santa Claus-like person on a cloud, but he’s not. He’s just a normal bloke: he gets angry a lot then he chills out when he has a kid. God features heavily in the show, and he’s a nutter; he’s three people in one. Sometimes he’s just one bloke and sometimes he’s three people. That’s weird. Maybe it’s a mental problem. Or maybe he’s a Transformer. He made rainbows to remind him not to destroy everything in the world. Again.

Do you believe in God?

I don’t believe but I’m prepared to have my mind swayed if God shows up. His name’s on the door.

Is your show likely to spark controversy?

I don’t mean to offend anyone, but to my mind it’s just a book of made-up stories.I wouldn’t expect anyone to mind if I had a go at Peter Pan. I did put on the publicity that it does contain blasphemy, so if you don’t like blasphemy don’t come along.

Didn’t you used to be a clown?

I was a clown in the mid 1990s. Clowns are brilliant. They have a bit of a bad reputation here but not on mainland Europe. In this country it’s just a load of paedophiles handing out balloons.